At least four people have died and more than 3,000 U.S. flights have been canceled due to a massive winter storm hitting the East Coast, with heavy snow, gusty winds and the coldest air of the season.State officials said three of the deaths occurred in North Carolina and the fourth happened in South Carolina, as the weather system barreled up the eastern coast.

At least four people have died and more than 3,000 U.S. flights have been canceled due to a massive winter storm hitting the East Coast, with heavy snow, gusty winds and the coldest air of the season.State officials said three of the deaths occurred in North Carolina and the fourth happened in South Carolina, as the weather system barreled up the eastern coast.

Among those killed were two men whose pickup truck slid off a road and overturned into a creek Wednesday night, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a press conference this morning. The storm has also caused hundreds of car crashes around the Tar Heel state, Cooper said.

Meanwhile, U.S. airlines canceled at least 3,731 flights within, into and out of the United States today and delayed 1,401 others, according to airline tracking firm FlightAware. Most of the cancellations were in New Jersey, Boston and New York, where some areas could get 1 to 3 inches of snow per hour starting this morning.